In a viral TikTok, a man shares his hack for finding the best Chinese food in America: the 3.5-star rule.
TikToker RocketJump (@rocketjump) posted the video on Tuesday and explained how he narrows down Chinese restaurant options.
The TikToker says that if you live in a city, go on Yelp and “look for restaurants with 3.5 stars.” He says that the restaurant’s rating must be “exactly” 3.5 because that rating is “the sweet spot for authentic Chinese food.”
If a restaurant has more than 3.5 stars, “too many white people like it,” meaning that “the service is too good,” so “the food is not as good as it could be,” according to RocketJump.
“Cultural expectations are different in Asia. [Servers are] not as proactive, they’re not gonna come up to you,” RocketJump says in his TikTok, which had over 7 million views on Thursday. “[People on Yelp are] dinging on all these restaurants because the service is bad. However, the food balances it out. So you have that 3.5 stars.”
@rocketjump Why I only go to Chinese restaurants with 3.5 star ratings
♬ original sound – RocketJump
Commenters on RocketJump’s video shared their tips and tricks for finding quality Chinese food in their cities.
“I look for the quality of the chairs,” @fascinatedbyfungi commented. “If they have those faded pink pleather chairs and lots of Chinese movie posters, the food is gonna be [fire].”
“I use the ‘welcome’ rule. If u walk in and they greet you just leave cuz food will be mid,” @oldtaku wrote. “I want them to ignore me like my [high school] crush.”
“I use the menu rule,” @emm4cla1re commented. “If there’s super faded pictures of food on the wall above the register then it’s gonna be fire.”
Others shared that RocketJump’s rule checks out for restaurants in their area.
“I just checked and my favorite spot has 3.5 stars,” @lukeg.v commented.
“I just checked the top 3 places on my city,” @iflipsidei wrote. “3.5.”
“Multiple 3.5s where I’ve had great take out, @carbonatedcheeseburger commented.
The Daily Dot reached out to RocketJump via TikTok comment.